Depression, anorexia, childbirth affect sex life

Childbirth, anorexia and depression can affect a woman's sex life, but in different ways, a small study suggests.

一项小规模研究表明，生育、厌食和抑郁都会影响女性的性生活，但三者产生的影响有所不同。

Research has shown that women with mental health conditions, including major depression and eating disorders, tend to report more problems with their sex life than other women do.

该研究表明，患重度抑郁及厌食症等心理疾病的女性性生活问题要多于其他女性。

In the new study, researchers found that women with either anorexia or depression typically had sex more frequently than new mothers did. They were, however, more likely to report having "problems" during sex, according to findings published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

这项最新研究结果在《国际饮食紊乱研究》期刊上发表。研究人员发现，患厌食症和患抑郁症的女性的性生活频率都高于刚生过孩子的女性。然而，这两类女性性生活中出现“问题”的几率更大。

This suggests that anorexia and depression have similar effects on a woman's sex life, while childbirth has a different sort of impact, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Frances A. Carter of the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Otago University in New Zealand.

该研究由新西兰奥塔哥大学基督教医学院的弗朗西斯•A•卡特负责。研究人员称，这说明厌食和抑郁对女性的性生活具有类似影响，而生孩子产生的影响则有所不同。

The study results are based on questionnaire responses from 76 women who had taken part in three previous, separate studies and included 10 women with anorexia; 24 women with major depression; and 42 women who'd given birth within the past two months. All of the women were married or in stable relationships.

研究结果主要根据对76名女性的问卷调查得出，这些女性都参加过之前三项独立研究，其中包括10名厌食症患者、24名重度抑郁症女性以及42名生完孩子两个月或不到两个月的女性。这些女性都已结婚或有稳定的恋爱关系。

Overall, Carter's team found that 80 percent and 79 percent of women with anorexia or depression, respectively, said they'd had sex in the past two weeks, compared with only half of the new mothers.

卡特的研究小组发现，总体来看，80%患厌食症的女性和79%患抑郁症的女性称她们在过去两周内有过性生活，而这一比例在刚生完孩子的女性中仅为50%。

On the other hand, none of the women in the postnatal group said they had any problems during sex, while roughly one third of those with anorexia or depression said they did.

从另一方面看，在刚生过孩子的女性中，没有人称自己的性生活有问题，而在患厌食症或抑郁症的女性中，约有三分之一的人称自己的性生活有问题。

The fact that new mothers had sex less often is not surprising, according to Carter and his colleagues. However, the reported lack of any sexual difficulties is "more optimistic" than the results obtained from other studies, which "suggested that sexual difficulties were the norm."

卡特及其同事认为，刚生完孩子的女性性生活频率较低是正常现象。然而，这类女性称“自己的性生活没什么问题”，这比其它研究得出的“（这类女性）性生活出现问题是普遍现象”的结果“更为乐观”。

The researchers add that their findings should be considered preliminary, in part because the study group was so small, particularly the number of women with anorexia.

研究人员称，由于研究对象数量有限，尤其是其中患厌食症的女性数量较少，因此他们的研究还仅处于初级阶段。

Vocabulary:

anorexia:厌食症

postnatal:产后的；分娩后的

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